The work of a much delayed ministerial inquiry into one of two consultant surgeons suspended from Cavan General Hospital last year has now been put on hold for an indefinite period.
The Irish Times has learned that the inquiry into the suspension of Dr William Joyce last August has itself now been suspended.
The inquiry, chaired by Mr Andrew Bradley SC, last met on June 26th and no further meetings are planned.
A Department of Health spokesman confirmed yesterday the inquiry had been "suspended until further notice".
He said this was due to the non availability of members of the inquiry team for the foreseeable future. Holidays would be partly to blame, he said.
The inquiry process has been beset with difficulties from the outset.
When Dr Joyce was suspended along with his consultant colleague Dr Pawan Rajpal over "interpersonal difficulties" last August, the North Eastern Health Board asked the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, to establish an inquiry into the suspensions, which is the procedure which must then be followed under the 1970 Health Act.
An inquiry was set up in September which had to be disbanded due to the withdrawal of both the appointed chairman and one of the consultant representatives. A second committee was appointed in October. This had to be disbanded in December 2003 due to a perceived conflict of interest of one of the consultant representatives.
Weeks then passed before the current inquiry was constituted in February, with blame for the delay being levelled by the Department of Health and the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association (IHCA) at each other.
The Department claimed the IHCA had been unwilling to submit names of people who would sit on the inquiry team because of concerns about how much they would be paid.
The IHCA denied it was responsible for the delays and claimed the whole affair had been handled in "a ham-fisted manner" by the Department of Health.
In the interim, Dr Rajpal successfully argued in the High Court that fair procedures were not adhered to by the North Eastern Health Board when it sought the establishment of the ministerial committee to inquire into matters leading to his suspension. However the High Court held that the decision to suspend him was valid at the time. Dr Rajpal is now to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court.
Since their suspensions, controversy has surrounded the level of care being provided by the surgery department at Cavan hospital and local GPs have complained about an absence of continuity of care for patients.